LOGINFive years ago, Nora Stirling was the invisible girl — the Alpha's youngest daughter who hid her identity, kept her nose in a book, and survived high school by staying in the shadows. The one person who made those years harder was Otto Forest, Alpha Heir of Silver Moon, whose careless cruelty left marks she never forgot. Now, on the eve of her twenty-third birthday, Nora is anything but invisible. As bestselling paranormal romance author Crystal_Lotus, she has built a life entirely on her own terms — until her brother Noah arranges the one thing she never saw coming. A mating. With Otto. What Nora doesn't know is that Otto never forgot her either. That he spent five years searching for her, writing letters that never arrived, and marking her memory permanently on his skin. When a high school reunion forces them into the same room before the announcement is made, two people with a complicated past must decide whether old wounds run too deep — or whether fate has been working toward this all along. A second chance arranged mating romance with a bully-to-lover arc, secret identities, pack politics, and a bond neither of them expected.
View MoreIt had been five years since Nora Stirling had last seen her High School bully, Alpha Heir Otto Forest of Silver Moon High.
The high reunion was to be held at the Moon’s Shadow Club. Although Nora was just the school’s nerd girl, of that year group, and was the youngest daughter of the Moonlit Falls pack’s Alpha, she kept it quiet, as she wasn’t in line for much, and well she knew knowing who she was meant that others would just treat her kindly to win favour with her father the Alpha Apollo and her eldest brother and heir to the pack Alpha Heir Noah.
It was easier for her to stay in the shadows, a reprieve from being one of seven Alpha pups of her father’s line; her being the youngest only made it worse.
“Nose in a book again, my lady,” the driver said, with a smirk.
“Fred, you know me too well, actually, to research for my next novel. Being the youngest daughter has some perks. No one really takes much notice of you and what you do in your spare time.”
“Must be lonely sometimes, miss even with such a large family.”
“Sometimes,” she agreed, “but my characters are all there when I need them.”
Fred nodded, “Of course, miss, that makes sense, we’re almost there, about three minutes out, looking forward to seeing anyone tonight?”
“Not really,” she sighed, “but Noah said that I had to go, at least to the first one.”
“What happens if you meet your mate tonight?”
“Well, considering who these people were before, I’d say I would be looking at a rejection. Which I would accept.”
Fred nodded, knowing that she meant every word. He had watched her grow up after picking her up and dropping her off at school each day, but she would make him pick her up a street away from the school, as she didn’t want anyone to know who she really was.
Then Nora had always been a more private person, even back at her family’s pack house. Her nose was either in a book, head down, with a pen and a notebook.
Meanwhile, Alpha Heir Otto was with his friends in the packs SVU…
“Dude, who are you looking forward to seeing the most?”
No one spoke for a moment, then. Luke broke the silence, “I know who Otto’s looking forward to seeing…”
“Linda?”
“No.”
“Lucy?”
“Wait, wait, I’ve got it, Nora Stirling, the year nerd.”
The car broke into laughter. All but Otto, who made more of a strangled sound.
He remembered the last time he saw her; she spoke to a handful of people at the presentation, then disappeared after it had finished. He never found her, even tried to find her years later, and even sent letters to her pack’s Alpha requesting to speak with her. But nothing did she just disappear from the face of the planet.
“Nah, man, I’ve spoken to a lot of people from our time at the school, no one has heard from her, since the presentation,” one of the others said, once he had stopped laughing.
‘No one had heard from her in all that time. What have I done? Did she hurt herself after what I used to…’ Otto’s thoughts rolled around his mind.
“Earth to Otto, you ok, man? You look like you saw a ghost.”
“Yeah, I…I just,” he stuttered, “I was just thinking that’s all.”
“Thinking about how you scored the nerd to do the class work for you when you were forced together, and since you were being nice to her, she thought it made you both friends, but you just…”
“Dude, honestly, I never picked her as my project partner; the teacher did, and she did the work to get a good grade because I backed out at the last minute when we were meant to work together. I didn’t really use her; I just wasn’t worried about my grades. She just made sure we passed, probably needed good grades. Although I was an ass to her.”
“Man, your arranged mating with the Lady Stirling of the Alpha line of the Moonlit Falls pack has gone to your head, you know, the chances that they're the same person, right?”
“Who said I thought they were? Just that it's weird, and father is only doing it because he says I need to settle down, even though I’ve never found my fated mate, nothing more.”
The guys crack into laughter once more, “Actually, if it is her, we should bet how long it takes him to win her over.”
“Oh my Goddess, yes, we so should.”
Otto wanted to run his hand down his face, as his friends would. He doubted that he would be the last wolf to have wondered what had happened to Nora since no one had heard from her. He had a tattoo on his right shoulder, a Moon Lotus flower. He had it done two years after he couldn’t find her; he had noticed she used to draw them in the margin of her notebooks. He asked her once what it was for she told him it was a pack tradtion it was to allow the Goddess to see that these who marked their work with is to see that they had learned her teachings. He had it done to show the Goddess he had learned from his mistakes and the pain that he had caused.
Instead, he turned away from his friends and spoke to the driver, " How long?”
“I’d say three minutes out, Alpha Heir.” The driver stated, and Otto could tell that he, too, had wished that he was anywhere but where he currently was.
The restaurant hummed with quiet conversation, the soft clink of silverware against fine china creating a gentle backdrop as Otto followed the host through the dimly lit space. Crystal chandeliers cast a warm glow over polished wood and plush leather seating. The scents of seared meat and rich wine filled the air, but Otto barely registered them, too focused on what lay ahead."Will your guest be arriving shortly?" the maître d' asked as he showed Otto to a secluded booth nestled against the back wall."Yes, within the next fifteen minutes or so," Otto replied, sliding into the booth. The high, curved walls provided privacy while still allowing him to see the entrance. Perfect for watching Nora arrive without being immediately spotted."Excellent. Your server will be with you momentarily. Would you care for a drink while you wait?"Otto ordered a whiskey, neat, liquid courage for the conversation ahead. A
Otto hesitated, considering how much to reveal. "Something like that."The weight of Noah's message still pressed on his mind. A muted fated mate bond. It explained so much, the lingering connection he'd felt to Nora despite years apart, the way her scent had hit him like a physical blow at the reunion."Look," Luke said, his voice dropping so the others couldn't hear. "About what I said regarding Nora, or Crystal, whatever she goes by now, I was out of line. If she's important to you...""She is," Otto said simply, shouldering his gym bag. The admission felt both terrifying and freeing.Luke nodded, something like understanding crossing his features. "Then I'll do better. We all will."Otto studied his friend's face, searching for any hint of the mockery that had been there last night. Finding none, he gave a short nod. "I appreciate that."As they walked back toward the pack house, Otto's p
His phone chimed from an unknown number: Good to see you worked out who my sister is and I did stop her from getting your letters for one reason for her to have time to grow into her own nothing more, it was my idea to bring you two together because the men in her stories always had a guy that was hard to miss they had a bit of you in them so it made sence that you were likely fated mates but with a muted contection. You're welcome.Otto stared at the phone screen, reading the message three times before the words fully registered. Noah Stirling. Nora's brother. The Alpha Heir who had intercepted his letters.His thumb hovered over the reply button as a storm of emotions crashed through him. Relief that Noah hadn't kept them apart out of malice. Anger that the man had made that decision without consulting either of them. Confusion about what "muted connection" meant regarding fated mates.And beneath it all, a flickering hope
Once inside his suite, Otto closed the door and leaned against it, exhaling slowly. The moonlight streamed through his windows, bathing the room in silver. He pulled Nora's business card from his pocket, running his thumb over the embossed lotus.Crystal_Lotus. The name suited her, beautiful yet strong, rare and precious.And soon she would be joining him at his pack, the shared living room between his suite and the Luna suite, which she soon would be moving into, for him to court her properly.The thought of her moving in so close to him sent a rush of heat through his body. Otto loosened his tie and tossed it onto the dresser, trying to process everything that had happened tonight. Five years of searching, of regret, and now Nora would be just on the other side of a shared living space. Close enough to catch her scent every day, yet still separated by walls and the weight of their complicated past.He crossed to the large windows overlooking the forest that surrounded the pack house
Now, as he moved to one of the passenger seats and the driver returned to the driver's seat, his friends started to file out of the Club one by one.Luke was the first to approach, his eyes narrowed as he took in Otto's rigid posture."Hey, you just disappeared after talking to the book nerd," he s
Otto frowned as the implications settled over him. Noah Stirling, the Alpha Heir of the Moonlit Falls pack, had deliberately kept them apart for five years. Had he known about Otto’s feelings for Nora back then? Had he intercepted the letters to protect his little sister from someone with Otto’s re
“Your last name mostly, and maybe hope, to change the ending of this story.”“Please, Otto, no one can know yet, not till the party, that I’m an Alpha’s daughter, not some random she-wolf. My father has always been private, and I’m the youngest of my father’s line, and let’s just say I’m guessing m
When she reached the bar, she spoke to the attendant, “Sage mint tea, no milk or sugar, please, sorry, I know it’s not what you’d usually get asked for, it’s just I don’t drink, and I have an early start tomorrow. The life of an author.”The bartender nodded with a smile. “Not a problem at all. One






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